Studying Solo

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. t n t E i igH f B y o t e s u r ge C o a m I

When you start studying a new language, you are embarking on an immense journey. Many language learners will tell you that visiting the country of your target language is the best way to learn it quickly. However, many ARMYs start to learn Korean by themselves and are not living in South Korea. In addition to that, many ARMYs who intended to travel to South Korea to learn the language were stopped by the COVID-19 pandemic. Does that mean you can ’t learn Korean? Does it pose a threat to your capability of becoming fluent? No! Not in the slightest. In fact, there are many di erent ways one can go about acquiring a language without ever stepping foot in a foreign country. Today ’ s Korean 101 will give you a few pointers on how to study by yourself, along with a few resources* to study independently.

Digital Resources

use of digital resources. With Korean being a trending language right now, there is so much information online for Korean language learners to utilize. Sites like howtostudykorean.com or talktomeinkorean. com are perfect examples of online resources that provide lessons in Korean from beginner level all the way through to advanced. Howtostudykorean. com not only contains lessons covering grammar and vocabulary, but it is also free! It breaks up the lessons into units, starting from unit 0, which teaches you how to read (Korean alphabet), through to unit 7 and an additional (Chinese characters

tests at the end of each unit along with listening practice as well!

As the saying goes, there is an app for just about everything, so making the use of these apps is another great way to learn Korean — with the added bonus of making learning fun! A few apps I have, which can be found on both Android and Apple iOS, are NAVER Dictionary, Memrise, TOPIK ONE, Drops, and Korean Study Step 1. I use apps to build up, memorize and revise my vocabulary, leaving the grammar lessons to websites.

Ask anybody who has been learning this language for a while, and they will tell you that NAVER is the only Korean English dictionary they use. It comes with many examples of word usage and links you to the number of times the word has been used in a VLive.

Memrise and Drops help with vocabulary building — Memrise having its own courses and dabbles in teaching grammar.

TOPIK ONE is a fantastic app aimed at simulating the TOPIK tests, and it’ s a great way to test your knowledge and see what you need to study and work

little di cult to find but is totally worth the search! It was developed by SOFTHEAVEN, and I landed on this gem five years ago when I was first starting out on my Korean language journey. It teaches you how to correctly write the characters and basic vocabulary — not to mention that it has a super cute design!

Baby Talk

As someone who has been studying Korean since 2015, the one thing I wish I had done from the get-go was to treat myself like I was teaching a baby to talk. Babies are surrounded by their native language from the moment they are conceived, and when they are born, they have continuous stimuli aimed at their

children ’ s TV programs. All these are neatly packaged lessons provided to babies and children, which they can digest in small doses. Find Korean children ’ s books to learn to read. Treat yourself like a child by nurturing your reading level. Try to read out loud and sound out the words if you can ’t read them fluently yet. Remember all those times when you first started school and learned to read and write? Use those methods to your advantage!

One thing babies and toddlers do when they first start speaking is using words to communicate and

understanding of grammar or they may not have proper pronunciation, but they are not afraid to try and communicate with those around them. Majority of the time, the person they are speaking to will understand what the child is trying to convey due to the context of the situation. A child might not be able to say: “Can I please have some milk?” But they will know how to say “Milk?” or “Milk, please?” And you would still be able to understand them, right? So use baby talk from the moment you start learning, convey your message, and as time goes on, you will slowly be able to build upon your speech to “ adult level.” Don’t be afraid to start speaking!

Something self-taught learners tend to struggle with is listening comprehension. Watching Korean children ’ s shows is a perfect way to practice this words themselves; it is also the visual cues that go along with the words. Children ’s shows and cartoons exaggerate these visual cues and gestures along with

ways to create word connections in your mind, so you can memorize vocabulary and understand what context the word is used in.

Virtual Immersion

Children ’ s TV shows connect nicely with the last point I want to discuss, and that is the use of virtual immersion. When you can ’t go to South Korea or surround yourself with native speakers, the next best thing is to surround yourself by Korean content. Fortunately, this is something ARMY is great at doing. Listening to Korean music, watching Korean shows — think reality game shows, as there is a plethora of written content in the shows to match the audio. Game shows, such as BTS’ “Bon Voyage” and “Run BTS!” are also much easier to follow along to and understand in comparison to Kdramas, as the majority of the content on these reality shows are improvised natural speech with common phrases and

also naturally creating a more “real-life” unscripted immersion.

Switching your phone and other devices to Korean and labelling things around your house in Korean is a more subtle immersion technique. Switching your devices forces you to recognize words and encourages your brain to look at Korean as something important to remember. While labelling things encourages word memorization and even just reminds you to study your Korean!

I hope the resources and tips I have put together in this series will help you to become successful in your language studies. Studying Korean requires a ton of hard work and practise, but with time, beneficial resources and techniques that work for you, you ’ll find yourself falling in love with learning and speaking the language! Wishing you the best on your journey!

* All resources suggested in this article are not sponsored recommendations, nor are they a liated with Borasaek Vision Magazine.